What do 15 of the nation's top motivational speakers
and authors have in common? Author Michael Jeffreys found out when
he interviewed Brian Tracy, Les Brown, Roger Dawson, Mark Victor
Hansen and Jack Canfield, Dr. Wayne Dyer and others for his
book Success Secrets of the Motivational Superstars (Prima
Publishing). Here, Jeffreys shares the eight key secrets he learned
from the motivational superstars.

My purpose in writing Success Secrets of the Motivational
Superstars was to share with readers how successful people
think and uncover what drives them. If you truly understand their
belief systems, their levels of commitment, and their confident and
positive attitudes toward life--and if you integrate these ways of
thinking into your own belief system--you will be able to succeed
at anything you put your mind to.

Success Secret #1:Take 100 percent responsibility for your life.

In a society where people blame everything from their parents to
the government for their failure to get ahead in life, these men
and women refused to buy into the mentality that says "I could
succeed if only it weren't for _____."

They realized that when you say someone or something outside of
yourself is preventing you from succeeding, you're giving away
your power to that someone or something. You're saying,
"You have more control over my life than I do!"

Successful people don't buy into this victim thinking.
Rather, their personal credo is "If it's to be, it's
up to me!"

Consider Les Brown. Abandoned by his parents at birth and
labeled "educable mentally retarded" by his
schoolteachers, he had every reason for giving up on himself and
his dreams. But when a high school teacher told him "Someone
else's opinion of you does not have to become your
reality," Brown realized in that moment that his future lay in
his own hands. He went on to become a state legislator and
author, and today earns $20,000 per hour as one of America's
top motivational speakers.

What Brown understood was that there are certain things in life
you can't control, such as nature, the past and other people.
But there are things you absolutely can control, such as
your thoughts and your actions. Taking 100 percent responsibility
for your life is one of the most empowering things you can do for
yourself.

Success Secret #2:Live your life "on purpose."

Perhaps what separates these motivational superstars from others
more than anything else is that they live their lives "on
purpose." That is, they are doing what they believe they were
put here to do. These speakers will tell you that the time they
feel most alive is when they are on stage, connecting with an
audience. Says Wayne Dyer, "Having a sense of purpose in your
life is the most important element of becoming a fully functioning
person!"

The difference between living your life on purpose and not
living it on purpose is like night and day. The latter consists of
simply getting through the week with the least amount of problems
while expending just enough effort to get by.

But, when you live your life on purpose, your main concern is
doing the job right. You love what you do--and it shows. Your
conviction is as evident as it is persuasive. And you will find
that people want to do business with you because they sense
your commitment to giving your all.

How do you live your life on purpose? By finding a cause you
believe in and creating a business around it. For example, Mike
Ferry, who was once a top salesperson selling audiotape programs,
believed realtors needed help developing sales skills. So he
started The Mike Ferry Organization, a seminar and training company
for the real estate industry. Today, he earns more than $10 million
a year from seminar and product sales. Like Ferry, once you get
your life on purpose and focus on providing value for others, the
money will take care of itself.

Success Secret #3:

Be willing to pay the price for your dreams.

Wanting a big house, a luxury car or a million dollars in the
bank is all very nice, but the problem is, practically everyone
wants these things. The question is, Are you willing to pay the
price to get them?

This is one of the major differences between the successful and
the unsuccessful. Successful men and women find out what it's
going to cost to make their dream come true; then they find a way
to make it happen. Most important, they don't complain about
the work it takes to achieve their dreams.

Les Brown has a callus on his left ear. Why? "When I
decided to get into speaking, I had no credentials, no reputation,
no credibility and no experience. So I had to call a lot of
people," Brown explains. "I called over a hundred people
a day, day in and day out, to ask for an opportunity to speak to
their group. This callus is worth several million
dollars!"

You can get practically anything you want in life--if you are
willing to pay the price.

Success Secret #4:

Stay focused.

Every day, we are bombarded with hundreds of tasks, messages and
people all competing for our time. This is why the ability to focus
on your goal is so critical to achieving it. Focusing requires
giving up some things in the present because you know the time
invested will pay off big-time down the road.

When Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen compiled their first
Chicken Soup for the Soul book, they were turned down by 30
publishers. But instead of giving up, they stayed focused on their
goal. "We did three to four radio or newspaper or magazine
interviews a day, five days a week, for a whole year,"
Canfield recalls. In every interview, they talked about why the
country needed this book now more than ever.

Eventually, a small publisher called Health Communications Inc.
decided to take a chance and publish the book. It not only became a
number-one bestseller but also hatched an entire series of
Chicken Soup books that have sold more than 10 million
copies! That's the power staying focused on your goal can give
you.

Spend as much of your day as you can focusing on achieving your
goals and dreams. Every day, ask yourself, "Is what I'm
doing right now bringing me closer to my goal?" If it's
not, do something that will. Focusing is like any habit; the more
you do it, the easier it gets.

Success Secret #5:

Become an expert in your field.

One striking factor about all 15 motivational speakers I
interviewed is how seriously they take their profession. Their
drive to be the best at what they do is phenomenal. They'll do
almost anything if they think it will help improve their speaking
skills.

For example, Patricia Fripp, who speaks to Fortune 500
executives on how to become more successful, took a comedy workshop
and hired a private speech coach because she wanted to improve her
speaking ability. Fripp did this after she had already been named
"One of the Ten Most Electrifying Speakers in North
America" by Meetings & Conventions magazine. To
Fripp, being one of the best simply wasn't good enough; she
wanted to be the best she could be.

If someone followed you around at your business all day with a
video camera to make a how-to tape for people who want to do what
you do, would it be a tape you'd be proud of . . . or
embarrassed about? If the latter, make the decision today to work
toward being the best in your field. How? By studying the experts.
The quickest way to become successful is to find out what the best
are doing, then do what they do.

Success Secret #6:

Write out a plan for achieving your goals.

Taking the time to write out an action plan, or map, for how
you're going to achieve your goals is one of the best ways to
get there faster. Brian Tracy, one of America's most successful
business sales trainers and speakers, points out, "Goals that
are not in writing are not goals at all. They are merely wishes or
fantasies."

Most people try to reach their goals without taking the time to
write out an action plan. This is like trying to drive from Los
Angeles to Denver without a map. Forget the fact that your odds of
reaching your destination are extremely slim. The frustration and
wasted time, energy and money will probably cause you to give up
long before you get to the Rockies. With a map in hand, however,
you'll not only enjoy the trip much more, but you're also
virtually assured of arriving at your destination in the shortest
time possible.

Success Secret #7:

Never give up.

It may sound simple, even obvious, but when you're truly
committed to achieving your goal, giving up isn't even an
option. You must be willing to do whatever it takes to make it
happen.

In the mid-1970s, Wayne Dyer quit his job as a professor at
Wayne State University to promote his new book, Your Erroneous
Zones. However, no major talk show would book the then unknown
Dyer. Did he give up? Not on your life. He loaded his car from
floor to roof with hundreds of copies of his book, and then spent a
year on the road traveling from small town to small town and
appearing on any radio or TV talk show that would have him.

Once on the air, Dyer would give out the number of the local
bookstore and say that his book was available there. After the
interview, he'd quickly drive over to that bookstore, where the
manager would say, "Oh, you're Wayne Dyer? We've been
getting lots of calls for your book!" Dyer would reply,
"Well, I have a case in the car--would you like some?"
"Oh, yes! And would you sign some while you're
here?"

By the end of the year, The Tonight Show was calling him.
And by the end of the 1970s, Your Erroneous Zones had become
the number-one bestselling nonfiction book of the entire decade.
This is what the power of perseverance can do for you.

Success Secret #8:

Don't delay.

In his book Live Your Dreams (Avon Books), Les Brown
recalls talking on the phone one day with a friend named Marion.
The very next day, Marion's husband called to tell Brown she
had died.

A few days later, Les was helping the husband clean out
Marion's office when he came across some notes for a play she
had been working on. Unfortunately, the play would never be
published. Marion was the only one who knew how it was supposed to
end, and now she was gone.

The lesson here is that Marion didn't know how much time she
had left to accomplish her dreams, and neither do you or I. We must
remember that we don't have forever. The clock is ticking,
there are no time-outs, and sooner or later your number is going to
be called. Top achievers know this, but rather than seeing it as
something negative or depressing, they use it to spur them on to go
after what they want as energetically and as passionately as
possible.